Twenty-three remand prisoners at the Nsawam MediumPrison in the Eastern Region were last Friday discharged unconditionally, after six courts sat on their cases, under the ‘Justice for All’ programme.

Out of the 61 cases heard, 23 applicants were discharged, 29 granted bail, with nine adjourned.

The freed suspects had been on remand for between four and nine years for various crimes including murder, armed robbery, stealing, rape, fraud, and drugs.

The six courts were presided over by six high court judges, Justices Clemence Honyenugah, Mustapha Logo, Barbara Tetteh-Charway, Afia Serwaa Asare, Abdullah Iddrisu and Constant Hometowu.

The “Justice for All” was initiated by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and the Ghana Prison Service to ensure that justice is provided for every citizen, irrespective of one’s background and to help decongest the prisons.

Justice Honyenugah, is the Chairman of the ‘Justice for All’ programme.

He said the Chief Justice had set up a training programme for judges in all the regions to handle remand prisoners and review cases not in line with the constitution.

Mr. Sylvester Rabbles, Deputy Director of the Nsawam Prison, commended the Attorney-General’s Department and stakeholders involved in the project for the exercise.

He said the prisons would liaise with the police to take photographs and fingerprint impressions of the discharged prisoners before their release, while the relatives of those on bail would be contacted to assist the police to process their bail bonds.

Mr. Rabbles appealed to the public to welcome the released inmates.

Mr. George Kwabena Apea-ning, a released prisoner, said he was arrested and accused of committing robbery and had been on remand for nine years without trial.

“I am excited to be discharged, I feel like celebrating my birthday. It is tears of joy for me. I really missed my wife and two children” he said.

He said he went through a Bible course in the prison, and hopes to impart the lessons learnt to society.